"I call that something," said Freddie. "I fell in a brook, but it wasn't deep."
"The lake's awful deep," went on Johnnie. "It hasn't any bottom."
"It's got to have a bottom, or all the water would drop out, and then it wouldn't be a lake," said Freddie.
"Well, maybe it has," admitted his friend. "Anyhow, the bottom's awful far down. I didn't get to it and I was in the water a good while. It's a awful deep lake."
"It isn't as deep as the ocean," Freddie said, "and I'm going on the ocean in a ship."
"Are you? When?" asked Johnnie.
"When Tommy Todd and I start to look for his father. His father is lost at sea on a desert island, like Robinson Crusoe, and we're going to find him."
"Take me along!" begged Johnnie. "I'm not afraid of the ocean, even if it's deeper'n the lake. Take me with you."
Freddie thought about it carefully.
"Well, you may come if the ship is big enough," he said. "I promised to let Flossie come. She's going to cook. Oh, no, Dinah's going to cook. I forgot about that. We'll have to get a bigger ship, I guess, so's to make room for Dinah. I guess you may come, Johnnie. I haven't counted how much money I've saved up, but I will soon."